Swiss Chard

My father’s backyard garden is booming with tons of stunning rainbow chard. This plant will grow, and grow, and grow if you don’t cut it and use it. So, today I cut about two pounds of Swiss Chard and told my dad “we’re eating this green every night for the rest of the week”. Chard is not only delicious a hundred and one ways, it also posses vitamin K, which is essental in proper kidney function, blood clotting, and diminishing pesky dark circles.

Now, that I made my dad the promise of cooking all of his chard, I needed to figure out a variety of ways to cook this leaf. Today, I made a soup that not only uses Rainbow Chard, but a variety of different greens that my dad has in his garden….including French Breakfast, Arugula, and Romaine. Dad was a little scared of the vert liquid I laid in front of him at the dinner table this evening , but after one bite he was hooked and went for seconds.

Green Pasture Soup

2 tbsp. of olive oil

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped

6 cups of vegetable broth

½ pound Swiss chard stems removed

Handful of Arugula

4 leaves of Romaine

3/4 cup of rice, cooked according to the package direction’s

1 tbsp. salt

½ tbsp. pepper

1 tsp. fresh turmeric

Tomatoes, croutons, olive oil for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste (I needed to salt the soup a lot more than just one tbsp.)

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat, and add the olive oil. Once the olive oil is very hot add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Once the onion is browning add the carrots and celery to the pot. Sauté the carrots and celery over medium for five more minutes. Once the vegetables look cooked down add the vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. When the liquid begins to boil turn the burner down to low and let simmer with the lid on the pot for 15 minutes. After the concoction has simmered for at least 15 minutes add the greens,rice, salt, and pepper. Let the liquid simmer for another 15 minutes, then take the pot off the burner and add the turmeric. Now, you will need to prepare a blender with the plastic round top in the middle of the lid removed, and a towel to be placed over the hole in the lid so not to splatter hot liquid on yourself. Place about two cups of soup into the blender, and puree until the soup is smooth. Continue pureeing the soup in batches until the entire soup is smooth. Finally, season the soup with salt and pepper, and garnish with sliced tomatoes, croutons, and olive oil.